Black & Veatch to design replacement hydropower plant in Wisconsin

MILWAUKEE, Wis. 5/7/12 (PennWell) -- Black & Veatch has been selected to design a new powerhouse for We Energies’ Twin Falls hydropower plant.

Black & Veatch will replace a nearly 100-year-old facility at Twin Falls, which will be built on the Wisconsin side of the Menominee River. The facility will have a capacity of 9 MWwhen it is completed in the summer of 2016, a release says.

The current 6.1-MW powerhouse sits on the Michigan side of the river and features five turbine-generating units, according to Black & Veatch.

Constructing the new Twin Falls plant before decommissioning the current facility will not only prevent a stoppage in power supply, but also it will allow continual water passage, We Energies says.

The utility company operates 13 hydropower plants in east central and northern Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan. The facilities have a total combined capacity of 86 MW.